Printing on roll paper - how to set the length

[GeraldB]

I've been printing on sheet paper till now on my 7900 from Lightroom 4 on Windows 7. I recently started printing from a roll and have encountered a problem that might be Lightroom question or a printer driver question, or just me, not sure. The roll is 17 inches wide. I want the print to be 16 inches wide so I set the margins in lightroom print module correctly. However I don't know how to set the length in LRM. It seems I have to go into the driver preview, set a custom length, go to print preview, then to get LRM to know about the new length I have to flip back to the develop module and back to the print module. Neither LRM nor the printer driver seem to be able to automatically calculate the length. I have to iterate back and forth inching up the length until it looks right by eyeball in the preview. In the LRM Page Setup I have the paper source set to Roll Paper. In the driver I have Paper Source set to Roll Paper and Size set to User Defined - this is where I have to set the length (that LRM does not know about without the round-trip to the Develop module.
Surely there is a better way?

[Tony Jay]

Thats what "user-defined" means.

Regards

Tony Jay

[aduke]

...
Surely there is a better way?

There is no way that I know of to do this automagically, but there is some improvement possible.

Instead of choosing User Defined in the Print Setup screen, choose Properties, and enter the printer properties screen.
Choose User Defined here, next to the paper-size control.

In the User Defined Paper Size screen, choose a name for your new size, set the size parameters, and save it. Then exit the printer properties screen and the Print Setup screen, then enter the Print Setup screen again, and choose your new paper size.

At this point, I normally set up the rest of the print properties for this size and paper and save a preset in LR Print module.

Obviously, this procedure requires an iteration through the printer properties screen, back to LR print module and then back to Print Setup.

I hope this helps,

Alan

[GeraldB]

Thanks Tony and Alan for the quick response. Setting a preset would work if I always printed the same aspect ratio in pano's but they are usually different. I use the roll paper for pano's. It seems like an obvious omission in LRM since it has all the information to calculate how long the print is. Perhaps it cannot communicate that with the driver. Anyway I now know I'm not doing something stupid - that helps.
cheers
Gerald

[PeterAit]

Photoshop does this perfectly well, so obviously it's possible to get the user-defined paper size from the print driver. Maybe an item for the LR "wish list?"

[David Sutton]

Hello Gerald.
I have a user template saved for each paper/profile, and a length much longer than I'll ever need. Then if you have “dimensions” ticked under “view – show guides” all you do is read off the length at the top of the preview, hit "page set up" and add two inches in the printer driver. This works on a Canon and should be the same on an Epson.

[Tony Jay]

I must confess that there are several suggestions that I will be investigating despite me printing happily with 24" roll paper on an Epson Pro 7900.

I will report back on the results.
(Can't do it now since I am not home currently.)

Regards

Tony Jay

[GeraldB]

Nice idea David. I'll do that. Seems like least effort way.